Practicing Mindfulness: 75 Essential Meditations to Reduce Stress, Improve Mental Health, and Find Peace in the Everyday

For more than 7 decades I have been a voracious reader. My interests have always been wide and varied from the scientific to the esoteric, from classic literature to westerns, and everything in between. This is why when I saw this 183-page soft cover book (Practicing Mindfulness: 75 essential meditations to reduce stress, improve mental health and find peace in the everyday by Mathew Sockolov) on Amazon I decided to purchase it. Over the years I have read numerous books on meditation, and I have taken several training courses on related topics. I think this is one of the best books I have read on the subject of meditation techniques. There are lots of reasons I like this book, one of them being the large number of different approaches to practicing meditation techniques. The second is how it explains techniques that take very little time (from 5 minutes to 20 minutes in most sessions) and are easy to practice. The third thing is how many areas you can improve yourself with these simple meditation techniques. After a brief introduction and an explanation of Mindfulness, there are three detailed sections (Basic mindfulness exercises, everyday mindfulness and mindful moods) that include various types of meditations such as “the mindful body, body awareness, caring for yourself, energizing the mind, cultivating the mind, waking up with awareness, cooling the fire, the strong you” and many others. This is the kind of book that you may want to keep as a good reference source to try out the various techniques taught in this volume. I highly recommend this book for anyone who is seeking a very simple and effective guide to quick and easy meditation methods. Rating: 5 Stars. Joseph J. Truncale (Author: Chair/Seated Tai Chi/Yoga stretching for seniors and the physically challenged).

This book makes meditation approachable and easy to stick with. I love that the practices are short, simple, and don’t feel overwhelming. It’s helped me slow down, manage stress better, and actually enjoy the process instead of feeling like I’m doing it ‘wrong.’ A great book for anyone new to mindfulness or wanting fresh inspiration.

Good book

I have meditated for a few years, and have attended a ten day Vipassana retreat/course, so I am not new to meditation. But when asked by friends about the essence of mindfulness, I have always found it difficult to do so. This book in a part preliminary to the exercises, presents a very useful, understandable and accessible discussion of mindfulness in its various aspects. I have gone back and re-read that part a few times. The exercises - which comprise the bulk of the book - are sort of familiar to me as a somewhat experienced meditator, and perhaps not as necessary for me, but nevertheless are nice reminders of the various aspects of meditation. So, four stars for me, and likely five stars for someone just starting to explore meditation - for them, I think, this would be quite valuable.

This is a great book for beginners in meditation and mindfulness. I also wanted to comment that the QUALITY of this book is incredible. Really well done. Highly recommend the physical edition vs. kindle.

I am a mother of three and am constantly on the go. I have never considered meditation because frankly the thought of trying to find a quiet spot to sit for a long period of time by myself in complete silence seemed insane I cant even go to the bathroom by myself lol. However I did want to find more peace in my life and that's when someone had mentioned mindfulness. So I started reading this book not knowing what to expect. Honestly I assumed I wouldn't understand half the stuff in it as I've never tried anything like this and thought you'd have to be like a Buddhist level to truly understand it. When I began reading I was super excited! Not only is this book extremely easy to read and comprehend it's easy to navigate. Depending on the emotion your trying to work through you can simply look up the exercise for it! Also since the exercises are short and range from 5-15 minutes they are perfect for my busy schedule. The best part of all you can do them just about anywhere. I've caught my self doing some of the exercises in this book while sitting in my car waiting for my kids to come out of karate practice! So if your new to this and want an easy to read go to guide on how to better handle your emotions that works with your busy schedule then this is the book for you!!!

Good book for helping with mindfulness.

As a longtime student of Theravada and 15 year meditator, I've read many books on Buddhism and meditation. Often these books provide general info that is almost cookie-cutter from one book to the next. This book on the other hand is all about practical and easily accessible methods to "slip" into meditation practice without tripping off the usual ego defense alarm bells. The author's soothing writing style is so disarming that one can easily read a paragraph or two and drift into a soothing, healing meditation session. I am so grateful to have encountered this book and trust it lead many folks into a fulfilling lifestyle filled with the healing power of meditation practice... This book is a healing balm for assaulted minds everywhere!!! Peace... =)

Excellent meditation book

Ya seas principiante o bien tengas un nivel avanzado en la práctica meditativa (mindfulness o no), este libro es una excelente inversión, pues presenta 75 técnicas para meditar con el enfoque del mindfulness de una manera muy didáctica. Además, incluye una introducción con los principios básicos que deben conocerse. Nada complicado, muy fácil de leer y entender. Lo recomiendo mucho.

I have been reading a few books on mindfulness lately and found this very easy to follow and insightful

Simple book and nicely written. I use it in guiding my yoga students through an intention and it is always beautiful. also nice for if you'd like to destress and start a simple meditation pratice.

I got a refund on this book because really it's just sub-par. The content is not bad per say but would have been better suited to a blog post/ series. The book just gives you ideas of things to meditate on. So yep not great and having page of paper with 5 sentences is a waste of a perfectly good tree